Soon after taking the guesswork out of gift-giving with its annual ‘Holiday 100‘ list based on the year’s top Google Search trends, the tech giant is now introducing a major AI shopping update across Google.
Meant to transform Google Search and the Gemini app into sophisticated shopping assistants, the tech giant wants you to use agentic AI to find products in stock nearby, get the right item at the right price, shop conversationally, and a lot more.
Described as the “biggest upgrade to shopping in AI Mode,” users can now describe exactly what they’re looking for to get relevant results. Accessible seamlessly via Google Search, AI Mode can be your one-stop-shop for product/gift searching needs. When you ask the mode a shopping question, it can now give you intelligently organized responses, complete with visuals and key details like price, reviews, inventory information, and more. Depending on your query, responses might or might no take a visual approach.
If you’re looking for visual inspiration, like ‘cozy sweaters for happy hour in warm autumn colors,’ you’ll see shoppable images. Or, if you’re deciding between a few options — like moisturizers suited to your skin type — you’ll see a comparison table with a side-by-side view of considerations specific to that product, including insights from reviews (like how a moisturizer feels on skin) to help you quickly understand the differences.
Shop via the Gemini app
Shopping features are coming directly to the Gemini app. This means that all the steps, from the initial brainstorming to product research, and the eventual redirection to purchase can now all be completed within Gemini.
The app not only offers reliable product information sourced from Google’s Shopping Graph, it also offers “shoppable product listings, comparison tables, prices from across the web and places to buy right in the Gemini app.”
Gemini’s shopping integration is rolling out to all Gemini users in the US starting today.
Use AI to ensure there’s stock nearby
Going to a retail store only to find what you were looking for is out of stock can be a frustrating experience. Several third-party monitoring tools already let you track stock, but they’re not very widely known.
Google wants to fix the gap with AI, and it’s not doing so with a new stock-tracking platform. Instead, it wants to help you with new agentic features built right into Search.
Google Search is now rolling out a “Let Google Call” feauture, which, as its name suggests, calls businesses to probe whether they have what you’re looking for. The new tool appears when you search for specific product ‘near you.’ Once you tap it, Google will prompt you with a few questions tailored to what you’re looking for. For example, if you’re looking for guitars nearby, Google might ask you if you’re looking for a guitar by itself or a starter pack with other accessories.
The tool then probes businesses for the guitar that you need and gives you a summary of the collected information.
These upgrades, across Gemini, Google Search, and AI Mode, are rolling out now!
